Journey of Magvel
by neville 2.0
Summary: Starts off parallel to the game, slowly veers off to AU. Essentially a look at the war from the POV of many. A little bit of everything, mostly adventure and some romance. A Sacred Stones fic. Read and possibly review.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Fire Emblem and aim only to satisfy my needs of broadening my Fire Emblem experience by writing this story.

Story starts off parallel with the game, but over time may branches off into the realms of AU. POV changes often and will always be clearly marked. And by the way deaths in this story were dictated by gameplay, so everyone is up for grabs. Enjoy, and review only if it is worth it or you spot something needing to be fixed.

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Gilliam's POV

We arrived at the border palace Mulan just in time to witness the end of a battle between Renais' princess and a Grado fighter, Princess Erika wrenching her thin rapier from the fallen man's chest quite clumsily, though I suppose she handled a sword better than I would have guessed.

"Franz, I've stronger armor, I'll go first. Cover my back." I ordered the young cavalier.

A spearman came running up to us, stopping feet away to take up a defensive stance. I charged the man, allowing his spear to deflect off my armor, slightly denting it, and shoved my own spear deep into his thigh. Suddenly from behind Franz bounded by, in a most carefree manner in comparison to the rest on the field, and ran his sword across the throat of the spearman, almost as an afterthought.

I cursed as I ripped my spear from the now dead man's thigh. Stupid Renaian spirit, disregarding my orders. Of course, I should have expected no less, now that Seth was in sight. Franz no doubt thought it more his duty to report to his commander now, rather than obey an elders orders and wait.

I turned from the back of the young cavalier and looked to the palace. Princess Tana was still in there; chastising the young man could wait.

Princess Erika and I were the closest to the castle, apparently she too was aware of the importance of hurrying, and all that stood between us and the castle were two spearman and the knight, Breguet. I took the spearman closest to myself, charging my spear straight through his midsection and rendering him useless. Far to my left Erika charged the other, sidestepping a thrust spear, though not entirely, as it drew a long gash down her side, and sinking her won rapier into the man's chest.

I was the first to reach Breguet, probably due to my frenzy to reach Princess Tana, and I rammed my spear as hard as I could into the weak spot formed by the hinged plates between his leg and torso armor. I knew it must have drawn blood at the least, but before I could appraise the damage I had done his own spear struck me at the joining of armor at my left shoulder, effectively sending shocks of pain down my left side and spinning me around.

I recovered my balance just in time to see Princess Erika charge him, easily dodging around his slowly thrust spear and thrusting the super fine blade of her rapier under the crack of his helmet. Breguet fell to the ground, and suddenly everything seemed silent.

I walked over and retrieved my spear, which I had dropped after suffering Breguet's blow, then turned to Erika, who was resting against the doorway of the palace, looking quite pale. I was instantly filled with anger. To think that a young girl such as her would have to take part in battle, particularly to the extent that she did, it just didn't seem right.

"Are you all right, my lady? You did quite a lot in this battle" I inquired.

"I'm…fine, sir Gilliam. Let us go find Tana," She said, turning and entering the palace. Right behind me hoof beats announced the arrival of the Paladin and his cavalier.

"Well met, sir Gilliam." Seth greeted, giving a salute.

"You as well, sir Seth." I replied, then turned into the palace, quite anxious to see Lady Tana safe.

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A/N. Yes, a little on the short side. The other chapters do progressively grow longer, however, though I suppose not quite as long as I would like. Thanks for actually reading if you have.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Ross POV

I followed my father out of the village, glad I could still put enough weight on my leg to support myself and not have to suffer the shame of having my dad carry me. We made it out to a nice little fortified area, and my father was quickly engaged with another fighter. I raised my hatchet, ready to help, when suddenly I was knocked off my feet and flying through the air on what felt like a living bed of feathers.

"What the Hell?!" I started, but was quickly shushed by some green haired person. She was about to say more, but that was when I saw her lance. Forgetting I was many feet above the ground and on a flying horse, I started flailing, trying to get away, wishing I were not laying on my hatchet so I could use it to aid my escape.

She held onto me tight, which only caused me to fight harder and as she tried once again to say something, I shouted out. This seemed to make her angry. Without warning she took two fingers and plunged them into the wound on my leg, and twisted. I gasped in pain, but was unable to do more than breath loudly and think of moving.

"I'm on your side, I'm trying to get you from the fight." She shouted.

This didn't fly too well with me, when you are on someone's side, you very well don't go around stabbing things into their wounds and opening them further. And even more so, "If you were on our side, you wouldn't have left my father alone, you would have fought with us!" Before she could attempt to reply, or I could continue yelling, we hit the ground.

"Father Moulder, come take care of this kid before I finish him myself." The Pegasus rider shouted, dropping me like a sack of potatoes from her mount.

I turned to see a robed, mustached, kindly looking man brandish a staff at me. Despite his utterly benign appearance, I cringed. The pain I was expecting never came, however. Instead, pain was relieved, the pain from my leg. I opened my eyes to see blue light fading away.

"Get up, my boy. We are in the midst of a battle," the man said, before turning to look over the rest of the group. I got up, and was suddenly approached by a beautiful girl, easily the most beautiful I had ever seen, wielding a thin sword. There was something familiar about her, however, though I quickly disregarded the feeling. It was clear if I had met her before I would never have forgotten it.

"We saw your village was under attack, we came to help." She explained. Coming from her, and not some rogue on a flying horse, it was completely believable. Now my one worry was for my father.

"My father, he's still over there, we need to-" I started.

"Don't worry about your father, we've got all in hand." She interrupted, then she just ran off. I quickly surveyed my surroundings, to the west, a cavalier and a knight were fighting two brigands, to the north were two of the neighboring villages. There was a Paladin outside one, though I wasn't quite sure if he was part of the mercenary group. And to the south, the Pegasus knight and Lady were fighting more brigands. I knew my father was off to the east somewhere. The Father that had healed me was standing back, surveying the fight, much as I was.

"These brigands, they're very underskilled, they will fall soon." He said, looking over to me. I knew it was his subtle way of saying my dad would come out of this fine, or maybe I was just imagining it was.

Sure enough, not a minute later, the knight and cavalier were returning, the cavalier needing a small gash on his horse healed, but only that. The Pegasus knight and Lady were also done. With them was my father.

"Dad!" I shouted, running up to him. He seemed equally happy to see me, though he kept his leisurely pace. I quickly stopped just short of hugging him, which I remembered would be unmanly, and finished. "I'm glad to see you're well."

"I'm glad to see you're well too, son." He said, then, turning to the mercenary group, "I am extremely grateful for your aid in fighting off these brigands."

The Lady was about to speak, but was quickly cut off by the Paladin, who hadn't seemed to notice her opening her mouth. "I know you! You're the Great Garcia." The whole group behind him turned questioning looks to him. He hurried to explain. "He was one of the finest warriors in Renais, and he's trained many of the troops. Perhaps you could help us with our mission, if you'd be willing?"

My dad stared at the paladin, seeming to recognize him. "I'm sorry," he said after a long pause, "I've left behind that kind of work. You see, after I had gotten married, I had dedicated my life to fighting. It was not until my wife had fallen deathly ill that I realized I had not spent enough time with my family. After she died, I decided to meet our son. I will not be separated a second time."

I could not believe I was once more hearing this argument from my dad. When Grado had first attacked Renais, I had also tried to change him back to his old life, as it had always been apparent he had been missing something in his life without the military. And now that fate had brought none other than, I recognized the lady now, from when my mother had taken me to one of the large parades all the way in the capital, the princess of Renais asking him to join their party, he was still turning it down?

"Fine, dad! If you don't go, then I will. I'm quite a warrior now too! I will prove I have what it takes, I am the son of the Great Garcia, no one will defeat me!" I shouted, striking at his pride. To my surprise, my dad chuckled.

"Very well, I suppose I will join you. It appears my son has grown up while I wasn't looking."

"Good choice, dad!"

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A/N: There, at least it's a little longer. Next chapter is when the POV's start to be multiple per chapter, I hope it works well. Thanks again for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Own nothing

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**Neimi POV**

As we entered the old fort I quickly scanned around. This was surely the place, the stronghold of the bandits whom Colm planned to plunder. Now to find where Colm would be, ahead there was only a wall, though he may have climbed over a portion that offered many crevices for handholds. I knew this to be false upon my second observation; however, there was a door to my left. Colm would never pass up the chance to use his lock picks.

I ran to the door, faintly realizing I was leaving the rest of the group, who were busy knocking down the wall I had noted earlier. I was nearly to the door, which I assumed would have been left unlocked by Colm, when someone topped the stairs to my left.

I turned, too startled to remember to lift my bow, to see none other than Colm. At his sudden appearance I was hit by my usual overlarge flow of emotions.

"C-Colm…" I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"Neimi?! What are you doing here? I told you to wait for me, didn't I?" He didn't appear too happy.

"I couldn't… It's too dangerous." Why couldn't he just understand, I cared about him too much to let him do these things. "C'mon, let's go home."

His expression softened, but just for a moment, then he looked, well, I believe he was going for anger, but it came out a frustrated grief. "We don't have a home! Don't you get it?" His words pierced right through me. I did get it, and more than him apparently. I had to try to not let my tears flow.

"Look, just leave everything to me, I can take care of it in a flash, but I don't need a clumsy oaf like you tagging along."

I couldn't understand why he was calling me names. All I had done was try to help him. I was really ready to start crying. "But…but…"

"Oh, this is ridiculous. We'll talk later. Don't leave my side, Neimi."

Now this was the Colm I knew. Despite not needing a clumsy oaf like me around, I was not to leave his side. "I… All right." I agreed as he turned and knelt by the door.

**Ross POV**

I looked around as we entered the run down hideout. I couldn't believe I was on an actual battlefield, with my father. I knew much for me hinged on this battle, if I proved to be too vulnerable, my father would most likely withdraw us from the party, despite any protests. Even more than that, however, I needed to make my father proud. I knew the best gift I could give to him would be to become an excellent fighter just like him.

Father and Franz were the first to reach the cracked wall, and between the two of them it came down. Beyond was an axeman. Now was the time to prove myself.

I darted between the two of them, and once in range I threw my hatchet. I watched its flight, as I continued running towards the axeman, almost seeming to keep pace one stride behind it. I saw the bandit begin to dodge to the side, but it was clear that the axe's flight was far too fast. My heart felt as if it was going to burst of overexertion as its rate accelerated more and more. Then the axe made its last flip…

And struck the bandit in the chest, handle first. I quickly stopped, completely surprised that I had made such a beginner mistake. Then I realized I had stopped right in the bandits reach.

The bandit, completely unfazed by my botched attack, chopped downward with his own axe. I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike. Suddenly there was the whoosh of wings above me, and I looked up to see Vanessa, her lance shoved completely through the bandit. Realizing how incredibly tensed I still was, I relaxed, and shouted up to her "Sorry about the hard time back at the village."

She just smiled, then directed her mount onward. I reached over and grabbed my hatchet before too much blood could slip up the handle. The lack of nausea at having the blood on my handle at all was slightly disturbing to me, and I briefly wished I had been able to grow up under different circumstances, more peaceful ones.

Luckily my father didn't seem too miffed about my mess up, perhaps he hadn't even see it, and he was now rummaging through the pockets of the bandit, saying he must have the key for the closest door. Meanwhile Seth knocked down another weak wall, leading forward. This time I wouldn't fail.

There was another bandit on the other side of that wall, and before Seth could make a move I ran around his horse. The path was clear. This time I slowed before throwing the axe, waiting to get in the proper range, so I knew how to flip it. I stopped a little long, and as expected the bandit began to move forward, putting him in the perfect spot. I threw the hatchet.

This time it struck perfectly, hitting him square in the chest. He dropped his axe, wrapping his hands around the handle of mine. I was all futile, however, and I was able to pick up his axe and finish it. I had killed my first human being. At the moment it hadn't really hit me, though, that would come after the battle. It did curb my bloodlust, however, and the rest of the battle was led by Seth and Erika, I only gained one more kill.

**After the Battle, Neimi POV**

I was happy to watch Bazba fall, knowing what he would have had done if this group hadn't come along and Colm and had been caught. But now that the battle was over, I had to talk to Colm. I just had to have him realize why he couldn't do these things, at least no alone.

"Colm" I said softly, approaching him. He turned and snapped.

"What now? I told you not to worry. I could've robbed these bandits blind on my own, thank you very much." I was once more surprised by his harshness, there had to be a reason for it.

"I was...worried…" I couldn't hold it in much longer, so much had happened lately, and now Colm was being mean.

"H-hold on! I'm sorry! C'mon, don't start bawling!" Colm looked very uneasy now. He threw an embarrassed glance back at the mercenary group, who had just had the last of their wounds healed by the priest.

The reminder that others were there helped to curb my tears. I was still determined to get that one promise from him, though. "No more… dangerous stuff by yourself." I sob ordered.

"Fine, fine." He muttered, seeming relieved I had calmed down. "But you have to stop crying all of the time. All right?"

I nodded, happy with these terms. "Uh-huh."

Suddenly Colm's face burst into an excited grin. "Hey, Neimi! Take a look at this." He held out his hand. I leaned forward and looked into it. Just as I saw it and gasped, he explained, "I got your mirror back, remember how long you cried when we left Lark? You'd thought you'd lost this." I did remember how long I had cried after that. I also remembered how long he'd held me.

"I knew it was your mothers, and I knew those thugs had taken it. So I went and got it back." He continued, then, beaming proudly, "See what happens when you give me a job, guaranteed results!"

I knew there was no way to stop the tears now. I ran up and gave him a hug, sobbing. I felt Colm try to jump back. "Hey, why are you crying this time?" I could only hug him tighter for explanation.

Suddenly, however, we were interrupted by the Paladin from the Mercenary group.

"This is quite touching, but, I believe you should return the Princess's bracelet now."

Colm stepped back from me. "Wha-What are you talking about? Are you trying to say-" Before Colm could finish the Paladin had grabbed him by his collar and began to put his hand in one of Colms many pockets. Colm obviously didn't approve.

"Hey! Whoa there!" he shouted, producing a bracelet out of nowhere. "It's right here, take it." The Paladin grabbed the bracelet and stepped back, giving Colm an intent stare.

"Tell me, boy, is this the path you've chosen for your life? If this girl matters to you, you must quit this dark road." I felt the blood rush to my head at the mention of mattering to Colm. Luckily I was pretty sure I had been a little red from my crying.

"Um, yeah." Colm said, at a loss for words.

"We're leaving, do not expect to be rescued again." The Paladin said, turning to leave. I was saddened to hear they were leaving. The princess had seemed so kind…

"Hey, wait!" Colm shouted, probably a little unnecessarily, seeing as how the paladin hadn't made it more than two feet. "Let us go with you, you can't just leave us." My heart skipped a beat, Colm was having the same thoughts as me. I really hoped they would accept us.

The Paladin turned back to us, "Pardon?"

"Neimi and I, we have no home to return to. No matter where we go, there's just going to be more fighting." The paladin was nodding, listening. "You're mercenaries, aren't you? Well, then take us with you. I'm a handy guy to have around. I know I can help you out." Colm started sounding a little desperate at the end. I moved a little closer to him.

"I suppose this decision will be left up to Princess Erika." He said, turning to the princess, who had been listening in.

The princess turned to Seth; "we can't just leave them here." She said, matter of factly.

The paladin nodded and turned back to us. "Very well, but you must pull your own weight. We're not going to baby-sit you."

"Oh, don't worry," I said, excited. I turned to Colm, "Colm, lets go grab our… stuff." I said, realizing we didn't have "stuff". All we had was one shamble of a tent.

"Yeah, I'll go grab the… tent." He said, before stalking off.

**Vanessa's POV**

I left the rest of the group after the battle, needing to take Titania back to feed her. It was also customary for me to groom her after every battle, and wash out the bits of blood that stained her feathers.

I always loved the alone time after every battle as well. The contrast of the sudden peace to the frenzied state of war was always welcome. Walking past a large boulder sticking from the ground, I saw I was not the only one. The young boy, Ross, was perched upon it, slowly spinning his bloody hatchet around in his hands. Though not the best when it comes to other human's emotions, I could tell something was bothering the boy. Sighing, I realized I had to do something.

I walked Titania over to the boulder, releasing her lead and allowing her to graze some nearby grass, and sat down next to the boy. I instantly envied my sisters ability to connect with people.

"Hello, Ross. Is, something… on your mind?" I asked, cringing at how it came out.

The boy just stared at his hatchet, seeming to have ignored me. At this point I desperately wanted to walk away, spend some time with the simplicity of grooming Titania, but it was clear he wanted me to continue, to guess the reason. I thought back in my own life, wondering what would have done this to me. That was when I remembered my first battle, how sullen it had made me feel. I would not have made it without the consoling of Syrene. I knew this boy needed me the same I had needed her.

"This was your first real battle, wasn't it?" This time I got a response, the boy nodded, and turned to look at me; he had stopped fiddling with his hatchet.

"You're feeling the guilt of killing another human." I continued, trying to remember how Syrene had taken me through this. The boy's sullen look affirmed my second statement. "Well, don't fell guilty. It was done for a good cause. Instead of thinking about it as you have killed; think of how you have saved lives. If you had not stopped that man today, he may have gone on to kill innocents for no reason. By stopping him you have saved them. I know people say you cannot value one person's soul over another's, or even one soul against several, but the fact is, if we didn't the world would be full of death and destruction, and would eventually cease to exist." I really wished I had been able to say it like my sister had, but the boy seemed just a little happier. I could never have expected what came next, however.

"I miss my mother." The boy said, tears beginning to leak from his eyes. Suddenly he was all out bawling and had wrapped me in a powerful embrace, burying his face in my chest. Understanding the boy was now using me to pretend I was his mother come back, while his eyes were closed, I returned the embrace, not feeling half as awkward as I expected I would. I felt terribly sorry for the boy, and for the first time in years I too was crying, though softly enough as to not let him know.

"It's okay, sweetie, it's okay."

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A/N: Holy crap, Vanessa has a compassionate side! I had not planned that last little bit from Vanessa's view at all, but the idea popped into my head at the last minute, and it seemed right that she would help Ross through it, though at first I had planned Erika to. Her and Ross really seem to be bonding. Hope this chapter was enjoyable, and as you can see the chapters are growing larger as we add more people. Next chapter will be up soon if anybody is actually interested, I know I hate waiting for chapters, so I won't expect anyone else to.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Own nothing

A/N: Okay, this chapter may get a little confusing as my plot veers from that of the game. Also, the first part (from my OC Agatha's point of view) was written after the rest of chapter four, so her origins are very unclear in that part. They are explained in the second part though. And thanks to my first (and only, though we'll not dwell on that) reviewer, Sorenfangirl04.

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**Agatha's (OC) POV**

The second that monk walked into my village I instantly distrusted him. He reminded me of all the things I hated about the church, the horrible church that had been my home for all those years. And even worse, he was corrupting that perfect young girl, the one who had wanted to learn the theory of light magic from me. But of course she had stopped visiting me, now that _he _was here.

And he had reported he was here to protect us from the monsters! How dare he call the sweets monsters! But of course this is a legitimate threat, he too is a user of light magic, a horrible power if in the wrong hands, like his own. I had to go warn my sweets. I quickly grabbed my cloak and snuck out of the village through my own secret exit. Nobody else knew of this. No.

I quickly made my way into the heart of the Za'ha forest, where I knew my sweets hid. Upon my arrival they would show themselves, however, they always did. I sat at the base of my favourite tree, an old apple that had lived here far longer than I. It resembled my sweets, and I it.

Suddenly there was a rustling nearby. They were here. "Come out, darlings. It is your Agie, I have important news for you." I called out to them. The first to come out was the entombed, the strongest of my sweets. He made his way over to me, followed by a few of my other sweets. Now they did not attack me because they knew me so well. But when we had first met, I knew it was due to my lack of any of the emotions they so often fell victim to, fear, anger, revulsion, hatred. No. I accepted them as they were, and thus they accepted me. When my darling had finally reached me, he held out his hand. Between two claws he held a sheet of paper.

"Oh. Now what have we here? A note from my dear Riev? Why thank you, my darling." I took the note, holding my sweet's hand where it was. Slowly I placed a couple kisses upon it, enjoying the sweet aroma of his flesh as I did, the origin of my pet name for them. A much more endearing name than monsters or fiends, I thought. My sweets. I leaned back against the tree, and opened the note, wondering what news it could contain.

_To my dear, dear Agie._

_Rumors have started in the heart of Renais that her Princess has escaped the fate of her father. On top of this, she has founded a small band of fighters to try and locate her brother. My king believes this to be a trivial matter, but I do not. I believe if the princess were to succeed it would mean the end of our sweets. I implore, seeing as how you are currently taking residence on the border of Grado and Renais, a place the princess must cross to reach her brother, that you inform me if their group is sighted, and of their whereabouts._

_Until death do we conjoin_

_Riev_

I held his closing statement in my mind for a moment. What a sweet day that would be. But I could not dwell on that at the moment, for now my sweets were in danger from two separate sources. Now, to warn my sweets to stay hidden until I could find and destroy this group, and the heretic Artur.

**Artur's POV**

"Artur!" the panicked cry disrupted my meditation. Realizing that this was a fairly urgent matter, however, I quickly snuffed the incense, and hurried out of my room. Out in the hall was the innkeeper, Tom.

"Artur! They're here again, this time you'll see them, we're not crazy. Come, hurry."

Not the revenants again. This whole village had seemed to go crazy at once, pestering the church about these creatures until it was forced to send me over, lest it be deemed uncaring. I had lodged at this inn for two days before the first incident. The guardsman had reported seeing a revenant. Not believing I had prepared myself fully anyway, just in case.

Upon reaching the gates I had seen what had appeared to be a revenant, a hunched figure draped in ragged cloth. Disbelieving, I had started the chant to draw lightning unto the fiend. The lightening materialized, and began closing in to strike the fiend, when it raised its hand. The lightning dissipated as fast as it had appeared. Suddenly the figure removed the hood of it's cloak, revealing the one of the villages healers, crazy old Agatha.

I had never before been so embarrassed, though I hoped the guardsman was even more so. I was just lucky she too was a user of light magic, and had been able to ground the forces before being harmed, as that would have been difficult to explain to the church. Beside me the craziest person in the entire village, though she was the one person that kept my mind from evaporating in this setting, stated, "I could have told you that wasn't a revenant. Where would a revenant be able to locate that amount of clothing?" Of course, leave it to Lute to tell me after I shot lightning at the thing.

Anyways, the point being, I simply couldn't believe that the legends of old were once again walking this earth, not with the Demon King trapped within the sacred stones anyway. Yet here I was, a whole week later, responding once more to what was probably just another calling of wolf. I suppose the part that disturbed me most, however, was the fact that part of me actually believed the people still, probably a part addled by Lute, no doubt.

We reached the gates, and the innkeeper eagerly pushed me through the small opening left by the guards, out into the forest. I turned to the innkeeper, wanting to tell him off for such rude behaviour to a brother of the light, but could not find the words. Tom just pointed. I decided to amuse the townsfolk once more, and turned to look.

What I saw caused me to take an involuntary step back. It was clearly not human, though it appeared as if it might have been, once. Luckily its back was turned to us, and was too far away to hear us, assuming it didn't have enhanced hearing that is, I would not have been able to call my lightning at that moment. Afraid, I turned a little more, seeing that there were quite a few more monsters, all faced away from us, appearing to be facing something else. I followed their collective gaze to see a group of people entering the area.

"Of all that is holy" I muttered softly. I turned back to Tom, seeing that Lute was now with him.

"Very well, I believe you now. I am grateful for your persistence in addressing the matter. I will go out to meet these creatures, our texts say the powers of the light have always been especially effective against these creatures, in the time of the Demon King. I will return soon." I gripped my tome hard, hating the knowledge that I must fight these dirty things, but I could not just allow the travelers to get ambushed. I turned to leave.

"I will fight with you, too." Lute said, gripping her own tome, though I suspected it was more with excitement than fear. She was crazy like that. I had no clue of how powerful Lute was, however, and did not want to get distracted worrying about her. Upon seeing Tom's face the fear that two of the few magic wielders would be leaving, the solution occurred to me.

"Lute, you have to stay and protect the village." I answered, before turning and running for the group, not allowing her a response. I prayed she would listen.

There was only the one revenant between the group and me. As I came running up behind it, I began my chant, focusing my will and disjoining myself from my revulsion. I was lucky to have just come out of meditation, as it simplified these tasks greatly.

When I was near enough to count the sores on its back (which, by the way, I completely avoided doing. I just have no other expression for this.) I unleashed my magic. The holy lightning consumed the fiend, filling the air with a scent much worse than burning hair, the sickly sweet aroma of burning, unconsecrated rotten flesh. The fiend fell to the ground, though still undead. The parts of it not completely burned by the holy magic were still moving. I cringed and continued towards the group.

**Colm's POV**

The farther and farther we went into this place, the uneasier I felt. The numerous trees were beginning to seem more ominous, and rather than providing protection from the harsh rays of the sun, as they had at the beginning of the journey, they were now cutting us off from the sun's warmth and protection. It was obvious the rest of the group was feeling it as well, though each was trying to hide it, whether it be for pride, or to not scare others by showing fear themselves. Each, that was, but for one.

"Colllllm. This place is really scaring me." Neimi whined from behind, wrapping her arms around my midsection even harder. This group had had only one spare horse, and they were in a hurry, Neimi and I rode together.

"Shh, Neimi, you might attract _their_ attention." I whispered, deciding it would be fun to scare her a little. But that wasn't the whole truth, I may lie to others, but I wouldn't to myself. I also did it because I… enjoyed the fact that Neimi went to me for protection, even if I was the one that was scaring her. And sure enough, she squeezed tighter, though now it was beginning to hurt. Wow, she was strong for a girl her size.

"Colm, don't say that. You're really scaring me." She said, burying her face into my back.

"Don't worry, Neimi, even if there were a 'they' I wouldn't let them touch you." I said, not wanting to go too far and spook her badly, seeing as how everyone, including myself, was already on edge. Some more than others, however. The kid, Ross, on the horse riding beside us started to make gagging noises at my last sentence, sticking his fingers in his mouth and pretending to retch.

"Don't choke." I tried to cover, embarrassed that someone may have seen how much I truly felt for Neimi.

The kid only grinned, then burst into song, "Neimi and Colm sitting in a tree-"

My anger instantly flared. Forgetting I was on a horse, I lunged at the boy. "Why you little-" Bam. I made contact with the ground. Above me, on his horse, Ross continued, "k-i-s-s-i-n-g"

"Silence" Seth yelled from the front. Ross shut his mouth.

"Someone's approaching us." Erika explained.

I got back up from the ground and jogged over to where the horses had stopped in a line, standing beside Neimi's horse. Indeed a robed man with orange hair was approaching our group, and quite rapidly at that.

Erika was no longer watching the man, however, she was looking beyond. "And who are they…" She muttered.

Seth too was looking in that direction, frowning. "Perhaps the question is, what are they?"

By then the robed man had reached us, stopping to catch his breath. Erika filled the silence. "May we help you, father?" she asked.

"Not…Father…Not yet, anyway." The man panted, though smiling at being called father.

"Brother, then. What can we do for you?" Erika continued.

"I've come to warn you of, the revenants. They fill the forest of Za'ha. I implore you stay back, until I have finished with them." He seemed to have caught his breath back.

"But surely you can't take them all on your own?" Erika questioned. "Surely there is something we can do, these… revenants, they can be harmed by weapons, no?"

The orange haired monk seemed to be considering something. "Perhaps you could help, I was rather worried about having to fight them all myself. You must be careful, though, they will not die from mortal wounds, you must dismember them completely, then burn them. That is, according to the old texts."

"Then let's go, they are beginning to close in." Seth chipped in.

"Very well." The monk agreed. "But I will lead this battle." Everyone nodded solemnly and readied their weapons. Except Neimi, of course.

"C'mon Neimi. How're we going to fight if you stay back here?" I prodded, though I wasn't too keen on fighting the monsters myself.

"But Colm, what if one gets me? They don't look that nice" she pleaded.

"Neimi, Neimi, Neimi" I muttered, turning to face her completely. "Remember what I said earlier, I wouldn't let them get you, not in a million years." Neimi nodded, though she made no move for her bow. "You don't even really need to fight them, just stay with me and cover my back, okay?"

"But…But, you promised no more dangerous stuff." She pointed out.

"No more dangerous stuff 'alone'. I won't be alone, I'll have you." I countered. "Just c'mon. I promise nothing bad will happen."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Promise." I confirmed. She smiled a little, grabbing her bow. Now that was the Neimi I knew, with a little prodding she could be brave as anyone.

**Artur POV**

I felt horrible for drawing the group into this fight, but it was clear that many were veteran fighters, and I was sure all were skilled. With that I knew also that I couldn't face them all alone.

I headed for the only other village occupying this section of the Za'ha, hoping to warn them to close their gates. I was followed by the two axemen of the group. Just as I was about to reach the gates to the village one of them yelled to me.

"Monk, watch out!"

I changed my focus from the village gates to the path directly in front of me, suspecting to see a revenant. Instead I was attacked by something else, a flying eyeball. If memory served, a mogall. I felt the rings of dark energy it began to cast around me, and I quickly sectioned off my thoughts into two parts.

Through my left hand I absorbed energy, creating a void snaking out to my side. According to theory the void would attract the dark energy and channel it away from me. To balance this action, I channeled the energy I absorbed into my right hand, readying a bolt to fire at the creature. I released my bolt milliseconds before the dark energy came into being. And it probably saved my life.

I wanted to smack myself; dark energy itself _was _a void, and worked by destroying the most immediate large source of energy within its range, usually the person it was being cast at. Luckily this time my energy bolt was the most immediate source of energy. I felt it as the dark energy worked its way down the bolt, which itself was an projection of my own energy. My sudden adrenaline rush helped me in channeling even more energy into the bolt, and I prayed it would be enough. The dark energy continued working its way down the bolt, weakening as it progressed, though I sensed my bolts energy would not be enough to stop it. I braced myself to be hit by the remnant of dark magic that would make it through, not knowing exactly what to expect.

First came a sharp pain in my right hand, followed by a complete loss of feeling in the affected limb. Just as suddenly I felt the energies in my body shift, rushing to that hand, much as blood would for a physical wound. The feeling returned, and I was only slightly more tired than I had been. Of course I had suspected it would turn out this way, the dark energy being a void and all, it made sense it would steal a person's life energy away, until death it there was enough.

Readying myself for another attack, this time a double strike meant to negate the enemy's magic, then strike them; I suddenly heard a strange whirring noise. I looked up to see a hatchet flying through the air, to strike with a revolting squishing noise straight in the pupil of the floating eyeball. The mogall reared back silently, though I had half expected to hear a screech emit from the creature, and I released the first bolt of energy I had prepared into it, returning the power of the second to help fill the void it had created.

Upon the impact of my bolt the mogall half exploded, half evaporated. The boy to whom the hatchet belonged ran up to retrieve it.

"Thank you for your aid." I said, happy to see the group may be able to handle the revenants better than I had hoped.

"You're welcome, it was fun. Eh…Eye goo." Was his response.

Suddenly a thought hit me, did Lute know how to deal with dark magic? Because of the state of her magic of choice, a perfect balance of void and energy, dark energy would be able to pass through any protection she might put up, and strike her. And I couldn't allow the village the church had placed under my protection to come to harm.

I ran in the direction of the village, seeing that two others had already headed that way, a knight and a cavalier. The dismembered parts of at least two revenants were strewn behind them. As they came into calling distance, I shouted to them.

"I've got the ones by the village, follow your leaders to the other section." I realized how utterly horrid my wording was, for the supposed leader of this battle, but I couldn't dwell on it. At least the two actually listened to me.

I continued on, hurrying to the village. By the time I had reached it I was extremely glad that physical training was emphasized along with the mental in my sect, though I could have stuck to that particular part much better. I found the gates to the village completely closed, and sitting next to them was Lute, reading. Next to her was a pile of ashes I assumed was once a revenant.

"Lute! The group we saw, they're helping in the fight." I said, approaching her. She looked up from her book, appearing none too pleased at being interrupted. I suddenly felt a little sympathy for the pile of ashes.

"Your flesh shows no signs of putrefaction. It seems you're not a revenant." She observed.

"Well, I should hope not-" I started, before being interrupted.

"You're the same old Artur." Was I hearing things, or did she sound disappointed?

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you we will have the revenants finished in no time, please be patient a while longer."

She shook her head. "No, no. I insist on joining you in combat. I have been reading up on them, and the yare simply no match for me. I am superior after all. It's just too sad we must destroy them, they are rather cute, you know, the revenants."

I shook my head in disbelief, she thought they were cute! Oh well, I had known since I had met her that she was strange. I considered whether or not to let her into the fight, then remembered the pile of ashes.

"Fine then. Let's hurry though, I don't want to leave all the fighting to the newcomers." I said, then noticed that she was already gone, running towards the river. I quickly went to follow.

Lute stopped right at the waters edge, clearly focusing on a spell aimed at the revenant across the river. This action confused me. "Lute! What are you doing? You know running water grounds magic." I asked, catching up to her. She smiled and nodded.

"Says the lightwielder." She said, then shouted an incantation. I recognized the first piece, the simple calling of fire from the balance of energy around her, the simplest spell in a mage's arsenal. Sure enough, I sensed the small trace void creating the changes in the air to make fire. And also as I had guessed, the energy was pulled in by the running water. After a second of silence she shouted another incantation, this one longer, more complex. Even more than that, however, it was accompanied with a sudden sweep of her arm. Adding a physical gesture was a sign of a new user to a technique in magic, this must be complex.

Suddenly the water that had absorbed the catalyst of her first spell rose a few inches, but only the top half-inch. The effect was a very glasslike appearance. Suddenly the water was swung through the air, much as a sword would be. It swung a full one hundred eighty degrees, cutting straight through the revenant, then hanging horizontally across the river, like a bridge. With a final word and closing gesture from Lute, it turned to ice, creating a bridge.

I was completely awestruck, never before having seen anima magic beyond that of the average fireball or lightning bolt. "That was amazing." I muttered.

"Of course it was. I am a prodigy." Lute said, walking over the ice bridge. I quickly pushed down my wonder, refocusing my thoughts to attain my best spell casting form. The fight was not yet over.

Lute continued right on by the halved revenant, dodging aside as the upper half attempted to grab her ankle and leaving me to finish the thing. After it was truly dead I ran to catch up to Lute, noticing that the entirety of the group was now in the clearing ahead. Near them was a true monster of a revenant, much larger and ferocious looking. It was clearly the leader of the small undead army. Perhaps it was one of the entombed.

"Stand back" I heard Lute yell, followed by the incantation for fire. Once again I felt the tracer void, the largest I had ever before felt from one who was not a bishop or sage, then was blinded as a fireball formed. I had to blink several times, and after my sight had returned it was clear the entombed was now no more, just a pile of ashes. No one knew quite what to say, excepting the boy with the hatchet.

"Wow" he muttered.

I walked up to the group. "Thank you all very much for your help. The village owes you much, as do I." I said to the groups leaders, though I now doubted that claim. After having seen Lute battle, I was sure the village had been safe regardless of what showed up.

"You're very welcome." The Paladin answered. "but perhaps now you can help us-"

"Seth, no! That is asking too much of them." Interrupted the girl beside him.

"No, lady, I must do what I can to help, as is the doctrine of the church." I recited on reflex.

"Very well. You see, Renais has fallen. It's last hope lies in the locating of its prince. This is our group's duty, but the road is lined with many foes, and our group is small. We could use power such as yours" he inclined his head to Lute with these words "to aid us in this."

I was ready to protest, seeing as how the odds were phenomenally against them, but the paladin's complements to Lute had caused her to become a participant to the conversation.

"Of course we will, I cannot remain holed up here if I am to increase my power. And this seems a very good way to travel." She looked as excited as I had ever seen her, though I supposed that meant nothing. She looked over to me. For some reason that look changed my mind.

"Very well, I shall join you as well. Perhaps on our journey we will find the cause of these fiends and put a stop to it."

"Just allow us to grab our things, and we will be right with you." Lute said very quickly. I stopped her as she made to run past me.

"Lute, stay and help burn all the revenants, or they will reform themselves. I will grab our things. Yours is the room directly across from mine, no?"

"Yes, it is." She answered, turning back to the group. "If one single book is missing when you bring it."

"Yes, don't worry." I interrupted, not wanting to hear what gruesome threat was to follow. Coming from one who thought revenants were cute, it could be anything.

**Agatha's POV**

I walked among the streets, in the open, yet hidden, listening to the general buzz of the people, and deciphering it. Today I had a feeling I would not enjoy the garnering of news as I so often did however, and was soon proven correct.

"Artur, he discovered the truth of the matter," They whispered. "Yes, yes, and I hear he's run off, along with the mage Lute, couldn't handle the truth I bet."

No. No. It couldn't be. My sweets can't have revealed themselves. They had known not to. I stepped up behind the girl that had spoken, and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her around. The girl screamed.

"Is it true!" I demanded. "Artur saw my- the revenants?"

"Y-yes" the girl stammered, very afraid. I noticed her friend made no move to help her. Their friendship would be terminated soon, I felt.

"How went the battle?" I asked, afraid to hear the answer. If Lute had joined, my sweets would have stood little chance.

"I-I don't know." The girl sobbed. I scoffed in disgust, pushing her away, and running out the gates, which were now left wide open, probably due to the false sense of security. This alone proved Artur had won.

I continued as fast as my old, tired limbs would allow, searching for signs of my sweets. Perhaps some had made it away. I was to the center clearing all too soon, without a single sign of my sweets. I hobbled a few more steps, considering stopping a while to take a rest, when a large black patch caught my attention. I walked up to it, realizing what it was when I reached within twenty feet of it.

They had burned my sweets! My anger suddenly flared, and I wanted to shout my fury to the world, but it felt as if something large had caught in my throat, stopping it. I continued to try yelling, harder and harder, sending my chest into waves of agony, tears of pain and frustration freely running down my face.

He would pay. I vowed silently. That Artur would pay. I knelt beside the ashes. Looking down I saw two things through my tear-blurred vision. The first was a hoof print. He had had help. And I knew who had done it, that wretched princess my dear Riev had warned me of. The second was a finger. I slowly, gently picked up the finger and held it up to my face.

"It's okay, my sweet. We will find those who have done this to you and you will be avenged" I whispered, happy to have found even such a small companion. "Now my sweet, if you could, point the way to your brethren. I have a note I need delivered, and an army to raise."

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A/N: Wow, I'm finally done typing it. This chapter took the bulk of the first second and third altogether, and doubled the total length of my story. Anyway, it was fun to write the magic scenes and I hope you enjoyed reading it.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

A/N: I really need to get more creative with my disclaimers. Oh well, maybe next chapter. Anyway, Two reviewers! Thank you so so much to Sorenfangirl104, and Black Lotus Flower. So, here's the next chapter.

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**Vanessa's POV**

I looked back from the head of the group, seeing that Ross was yet again teasing the two teenagers. The boy had realized intimidation was useless, and was now outright ignoring Ross. The girl, though she no longer appeared to be aware of it, was still rather red. I was very much relieved to see that Ross still seemed to be happy, despite the events of the recent days. Ross saw me looking, and brought his horse up to speed, pulling up beside Titania and I.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." I replied. "You know, you should probably lay off those two, right?" I asked, more to start a conversation more than anything else. The teenagers hormones would protect them more than anything else could from Ross's taunting.

"Why though, it's so much fun?" he whined.

"Yes." I replied, smiling. "But can't you see your teasing is pushing them apart. Wouldn't it be even more fun if you let them grow together, then caught them kissing?" I laughed at myself in my head, it had been so long since I had had thoughts like that. So mischievous.

"That would be great!" he exclaimed, smiling the widest smile I had ever seen. I felt a sudden joy that I had been the one to bring the smile to that child's face. I had always wanted to be a mother, ever since girlhood, but shortly after joining the Pegasus knights of Frelia I knew it would never happen. I lived too dangerous a life to have children; I would not risk leaving a child motherless. We rode in silence for a few moments, before he spoke up once more.

"Thank you, for the talk, two days ago. It really, really helped me. It's just been so hard since losing my mother, I am glad you were there for me." He looked to the ground, obviously embarrassed to be disclosing such personal feelings, a trait that was understandable in a boy who had grown up the last few years with just his father. His warrior father.

I so wanted to hug the boy then, but knew that would be far too embarrassing for him. Instead, I simply replied, "Whenever you need me, I'll be there for you. Always." I couldn't help saying it, it was so obvious Ross was in need of a mother figure, and I so wanted a child, I had to comfort him.

I wondered if that was how Syrene felt when I had first joined the army, after I was effectively cut off from our parents. She had always seemed a second mother to me, always giving the advice mother could no longer give me. I wondered if I could really be matching up to Syrene, something to which I had aspired my whole life. I hoped so. The rest of the ride to Serafew was in silence, though a comfortable one.

**Joshua POV**

I kept my distance from the rest of Saar's troops as we traveled to the town of Serafew, they just seemed too vulgar, too ignorant to the meaning of honor. Perhaps I was growing soft, or perhaps just wearisome of my lifestyle as of late, seeing as the mercenary group with Caellach had been just the same, or worse. But then again, was that not the reason I had quit that group as well?

Either way I did not look forward to our arrival at Serafew, Saar had gone through the objectives with us, apparently we were to finish off the princess of Renais. Why Saar and his gang had been sent for this mission I had no clue. The only way any of them had made it this long was by hiding in the back ranks or going for civilians rather than soldiers. The only reason I had been put in with them was I was new. Surely they would be defeated by the princess Erika, and I with them, though if I played the cards right and the dice rolled in my favour…

We made camp on the outskirts of the border town. The princess was due to arrive any day now, and we were all told to be ready to come to arms. Many of us, including me, took this to mean we would spend our time in the arena.

Arenas. They could accurately be described as my favourite place on the entire continent. The perfect mixture of skill and luck, they kept the adrenaline flowing, a substance I was quite sure I had become addicted to. You were placed against a random opponent, after making a monetary bet on your own victory, and were given a random weapon of your group choice. If the skill of your opponent was greater, or their weapon superior, it was best to call it quits before too many blows could be dealt. Even then it was a gamble as to whether or not your opponent would stop.

As I watched the fights, most of which were withdrawn from even before a first real injury occurred, I smiled to myself. Occasionally one would go all the way to death, and Grado would be down another soldier. Perhaps if the other countries just sat back and waited there would be no Grado to fight. But that was just wishful thinking; there were far too many Grado soldiers for a few arenas to make a difference with. Finally I was up.

I decided to place all my money as a bet, as I always did. I would not withdraw from a fight, no matter what, so if I lost I wouldn't miss it anyway. Besides, seeding the bucket made the others tend to pay higher as well. I walked into the arena, after being handed a simple iron sword from one of the arena's workers. It was bent and horribly off balance, it seemed my luck was off to a bad start already. At least it was still sharp. I watched my opponent walk in from the other side. He was slim of build, like myself, but clearly strong. He had a fairly confident stride, no, make that a strut, and held his spear as if it were an extension of himself. This would not be my easiest match.

As we reached the center, he spoke "Joshua, I believe your name is. You're new here, aren't you? Yeah, it's obvious you are, you're the one that protested the punishment of those deserving traitors. Let me tell you one thing, you don't live long if you allow traitors to live. Of course, you won't be living much longer anyway, so I suppose you shouldn't worry about it now."

The whole while he was talking it was obvious he greatly underestimated me, my mercy making me weak in his eyes. I silently nodded, he was not deserving to hear anything from me. I could understand if they had been true traitors, but they had just been children, children doing nothing but playing war. When it was figured out one side was playing as Renais, they were instantly executed, the lesson being, this is what happens to those who sympathize with Renais. The arena manager signaled the start, cutting off the rest of his monologue.

I decided to play this one safe, despite the fact he so greatly underestimated me. Perhaps if I could get him to scratch me, draw first blood, I could lull him into a deadly sense of security. I went into a lunge I knew would never reach him, quickly pulling back when he thrust the spear at me.

"You know, I have far superior range. Lunges won't work against spearman. You are new, aren't you?"

He was beginning to sound repetitive. I stood back, and waited for him to attack, deciding he would attempt just a simple lunge, to test out my dodging capacity; this would be my best chance to allow injury. He started just as I had expected, lunging at me, attempting to use his superior range to advantage. I started to dodge to the side, just slowly enough that the spear would graze me as it went by. It caught me completely off guard when he switched courses with lightning speed, whipping around the blunt end of his spear and swiping it at me as if it were a staff. I registered his switch just in time to shift my balance back the other way. The spear caught me right on the shoulder and I rolled with the blow, it barely harmed me.

The man continued his attack, relentless. I had just returned to my feet from my roll as he made another thrust with his spear. This one grazed my left arm, and I spun away to put my sword up between him and I. My arm stung, but just a little.

I expected him to stop his attack then and throw in some arrogant comment, but he just came at me with another lunge. This one I was able to deflect with the tip of my sword, his momentum carried him closer to me, within range of my sword. I made my strike, swinging the unwieldy sword as fast as I could. He was able to shift his momentum to the side, and only took a grazing blow to his upper thigh.

"Ha, I was within your range and you didn't even kill me. Don't have the guts I suspect. Did you see me falter when I killed the traitors? To be a true warrior you must act with decisiveness."

My vision suddenly went red; this man had been one of those who had killed the young boys? I instantly forgot my previous strategy. This man was dead on his feet. As he finished his last sentence I rushed in. He seemed to be perfectly ready, he had said those things to draw me in. His lance was whipped out in front of him, perfectly in line to impale me with my own momentum. I could not stop in time, the only option left was to roll.

I hit the ground fast, taking one last mental picture of his position. I hoped he would not change position while I was on the ground. I rolled right beneath his spear, holding my sword out to my side. As I came out of my second rotation I swept my sword with all my might right at the portion of leg directly under his kneecap. The force of my spin aided my strength, and I heard and felt the bone crack as my sword made contact, completely severing his left leg.

The crowd in the arena suddenly erupted in cheers; I had temporarily forgotten they were watching. I returned to my feet, wiping off a spattering of the blood that had landed on my face. On the ground the man was writhing in agony, attempting to hold his wound, calling for mercy, for the fight to end.

This angered me even more. Had those children asked for mercy? I would bet they did, and not just because I'd bet on just about anything. I gripped my sword and walked toward the fallen man, intent on finishing him. Hearing the calls for the end, however, one of the managers ran between the man and myself, holding out a sword.

"Move." I said simply. My anger was directed only at the fallen soldier, but if this newcomer came between us I would not hesitate.

"The fight is ended, go collect your money and leave." He ordered. Faster than the man could see I whipped my sword across his neck. He fell to the ground, dead.

I continued past the man, and looked down to the face of my fallen adversary, the heartless murderer. In his eyes I saw a primal fear, a fear simply that he would die, not that he would be leaving behind love or something else important. This man was a waste of air.

"Please." He wheezed.

"They begged for mercy too, didn't they?" I asked, shoving my sword straight down through his middle, centering it so it would also shatter his spine. No healer would be able to fix that. Then I turned and walked out, completely oblivious to the cheering, and forgetting all about the money. The one thing I remembered was my killing edge. Deep down I feared death would be all that I ever remembered.

**Natasha POV**

I listened as the loudest cheer I had heard yet issued from the arena. I often spent my days here, helping to heal the injuries of those who came out, finding that many were surprisingly grateful, and I felt it made a difference in their lives. I had been able to convince some not to go back. But today was going to be different. I needed to tell someone of my dilemma, a good fighter with a good heart. I knew the arena wasn't the best place to find one of these, but here it was the only place. I just hoped I would find him before the Grado army found me.

Suddenly a man came storming out. He was covered in blood, though I could tell barely any of it was his own, just the little bit on his left sleeve. Upon seeing me he suddenly stopped. He stared at me a moment, a stare that I felt delved deep into my emotions, then smiled.

"Something amiss, sister. You look… flustered."

I knew this man was the man, despite the fact that he had obviously won the fight completely, not through surrender. I truly wanted to tell him of my plight, how the emperor had changed and how I was now branded traitor, but I couldn't. What if I had judged wrong and he turned me in? And despite this, it was disturbing to be asked that question by a man who was so obviously haunted by many more trials than I.

"Uh, no, nothing. Do you need some healing, that cut looks-"

"No, no, it's fine. Nothing I can't deal with." He muttered. It was clear the healing of his physical wounds would mean nothing, it would not repair his soul's wounds with healing staves.

Suddenly a trio of soldiers exited the arena. The first one got a good look at me. He looked highly ranked.

"That's the traitor, Natasha. She went against the emperor in his own palace, seize her!" He shouted.

I turned and ran, hoping to reach the forest outside Serafew and hopefully lose them there. They were closing in on me just as a ran down the steps leading to the lower district, where the gates were. Suddenly I found myself nearly running headlong into a large group of people.

"A traitor to the Grado throne?" a man on a large horse asked. His armor was different somehow; I could tell he was not Grado.

"It's a long story, I'll explain later, please, can you help me?" I pleaded, seeing the weapons wielded by the group. Somehow I felt they could help me.

"Yes, stay with us. I believe this group is after us as well, seems we have a common enemy." A girl riding to the side of the man spoke, dismounting from her horse.

"Thank you." I said, not believing my luck. "Oh, but there is one Grado soldier I must speak to. If just the one were to hear my words. That is all I need.

Back at the steps the three Grado soldiers saw the group. "Get admiral Saar!" he shouted back to a few more troops, "The princess has arrived!"

"I wonder if we'll ever have peace again?" mused the girl, whom I now presumed to be the princess they spoke of. Her every feature showed of royalty.

**Lute's POV**

Artur and I quickly headed off to the westernmost walls, feeling it would be good strategy to flank the enemy, while they were distracted by the bulk of our group. We soon came across a simple foot soldier, but with one well-aimed lightning strike Artur took care of the problem. I watched as he performed his magic, noticing the differences of appearance between light magic users and anima. The most noticeable quality was the conviction with which the light magic wielder employed his magic. I was both disturbed and intrigued by the lack of remorse he showed at the taking of a life, the acceptance of the fact it had to be done. I wished I could be possessed of such conviction.

We quickly made it up to the large group of housing at the north side of Serafew, arriving in time to stop a band of brigands from demolishing the place. Realizing the two of us had them in a route, we pressed on to their leader himself. I was fairly happy to find that he was weak, however. When he had seen he was facing two magic users alone, he had tried to run. He did not make it far.

After we had finished with this group we looked to the south to see the enemies there were also vanquished. Artur decided we would wait here for the group, and rest, and then complemented my magic. My reaction to this was not one I would have suspected. Being a prodigy and all I often received praise, even from the most skilled of magic users. But hearing the praise from Artur, it just seemed to mean more. I found myself liking it very much, and hoped I was not blushing. I prided myself on my inner sanctity.

**Ross POV**

I sighed as I realized we would be fighting humans once more. Of course, with Vanessa's advice, I could do it without too much remorse now, I still disliked to kill. That and I was beginning to grow too attached to too many members of this group, and I knew it was only a matter of time before one died. At least I would always have Vanessa, though, and my father. I remembered back to her words on the trail. Always she would be there for me. Always.

I watched as she flew to the southernmost village, warning the residents of the impending battle. The rest of the group spread out, the mages Neimi and Colm went west, the rest east. I followed the bulk of the group, I knew very few could face a pair as powerful as Artur and Lute. I returned my focus to the battle in front of me, noticing the pair of brigands that had just arrived to scavenge the spoils of the battle. I ran towards them to stop them from attacking the back of the group. Erika came with me. The two were quickly down, having not been trained in fighting, and we returned to the bulk of the battle. I quickly spotted Vanessa the farthest ahead. I gulped as I realized she was surrounded by two axemen and a swordfighter.

My worry eased, however, when she dispatched the first axeman, her and Titania working so fluently with each other. With a simple tap of her heel to the side of Titania, the winged horse jumped back, taking her from the course of the swinging axe. Another thump, and they were lunging back towards the axeman. Vanessa's spear struck perfectly. While she was engaged removing her spear from the man's chest, another rushed them from behind. Titania took care of the matter easily, however, kicking back and striking the man on the head the instant he was in reach. His neck snapped with an audible 'pop'.

Then, suddenly, the swordsman ran towards her, just as her spear was returned to her. She quickly brought her spear around, but she was very off balance, and it was easily knocked aside. I watched in horror as the man continued, not slowed in the least by knocking the spear away, and sliced Vanessa's arm completely from her body. Another strike and her throat was slit open. I knew I screamed, but did not even hear myself.

**Joshua's POV**

I couldn't believe the Pegasus knight directly in front of me, dispatching the two axemen as though they were nothing. As she removed her spear from the first man I felt her gaze switch to me. I knew I was next, unless I acted quickly.

**Natasha's POV**

I looked up from healing the wound Seth's horse had received from a stray arrow, noticing the man I had spoken to before. I knew if I just went to him he would listen to what I had to say. Before I could change my mind I jumped up and ran towards him. I nearly deviated my course when I saw the body of the group's Pegasus knight, but saw her wounds and knew she was dead. Next to her were the corpses of two axemen. They must have been the ones to do it. I once again felt the sickness this war had began to place upon me. Then I had reached the man, noticing he looked even more blank than usual.

"You're the man I talked to earlier." I said.

He looked up at me. "And you're the traitor of Grado, Natasha. They want you dead, you know?" he replied.

I liked the way he had said "they" rather than "we". "I am aware of this. But you seem like a smart man. Tell me you haven't noticed the emperor is not himself."

"I haven't noticed the emperor is not himself" The man promptly replied.

"Just hear me out," I continued, "turn to our side, it is no longer worth it to stick with Grado." I pleaded. I did not know why I needed him to agree to come so much.

"Tell you what," he said, giving me hope, "I'll make you a bet. Flip of the coin, if I win, I stay, if you win, I join you. I believe I owe some debts anyway. Heads or tails?"

I couldn't believe it was to be decided like this. "Heads, no, tails." I decided, watching the coin in his hand. When I changed my mind to tails I saw the coin suddenly jump from one part of his hand to the other. He had switched out the coin; he had had two double-sided coins.

He flipped the coin into the air. Before he could reach out and catch it, I snatched it from the air. "Ha! You cheated." I proclaimed, holding out my hand to show what must surely be a double-sided coin. He peered into the hand.

"Hm. Tails. It would appear I lose." He muttered. I looked down in disbelief. Surely he was lying. Nope, it clearly showed tails. I flipped it over; tails. What was he playing at?

"I may cheat." He said, "But I never skip out on a bet, I will join you." He said, smiling.

**Ross's POV**

I knew I had passed out, but only for a few seconds. Nobody but my father had even noticed. I saw the new healer talking to the murderer.

"Son, Ross, are you okay?" My father questioned. I ignored him, gripping my hatchet and running up to where the murderer stood. I had never before felt such fury. I was faintly aware of my father following behind me.

When I had reached where the two stood, I yelled. "You murderer!" then, turning to Natasha, "What are you doing with him, he's from Grado!" Before either could respond I threw my hatchet straight at the swordsman.

The swordsman flinched, sticking his hand straight out and hitting the hatchet on the handle, knocking it off it's course.

"Stop! Don't! He's joined our side!" Natasha yelled as I lunged towards the man, deciding I could kill him just as well bare handed.

"He killed my Mother!" I yelled. I stopped in my tracks, completely surprised by my words. I had had no clue I had grown so attached. Behind me I could tell my father was even more confused. The swordsman looked the most stunned of all, though, looked worse than death, in fact.

Falling to his knees, the swordsman held his sword out to me, holding it by the blade. I could see the blade was cutting into his hands. "I am deeply regretful that I have killed your mother. I have no excuses and am willing to meet my punishment." He said. I grabbed the sword, wondering if revenge could be that easy.

"No, you can't do this-" the cleric started, then was interrupted by the swordsman.

"No, Natasha, he must decide. I have done a horrible thing." She looked ready to protest, but didn't, instead she looked to me. In that brief moment she looked at me I was strongly reminded of something. The kindness and mercy in her eyes strongly resembled that of both Vanessa and my mother. I knew I could not kill this man. But I was still angry.

I looked at the swordsman, head bowed, ready to meet his fate, and spoke. "I cannot kill you." With those words I took the sword and raised it, bringing it flashing back down to strike him in the arm, cutting deep into the flesh. I knew Natasha would heal it, but I wanted him to feel some pain. He cried out. With that, I ran.

**An Hour Later, Ross's POV**

I looked down to the place where we had buried Vanessa, hating the fact that it had had to be done so quickly, with so little ritual. I was glad though, that now everyone had left, letting me tell her what I had to say.

"You said you'd always be there when I needed you. Always." I started, beginning to cry. "But you can't now. You know who else told me that? Who else said always? It was my mother. Yes, my mother!" I shouted, angry, but not knowing what at. "Why'd you make a promise you couldn't keep? But you know what? I love you both anyway. Despite the fact you were both liars, I love you. I've got to go now, I can't keep the group waiting. Just remember, I'll miss you. Both of you." I could think of nothing more to say. Before I could get angry or have second thoughts on things, I walked away.

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A/N: That chapter was so hard to write. In the game I used Vanessa to get Joshua over close enough to talk to Natasha, but I had no clue Ross would grow that close to her, or I would have been more cautious, honestly. I feel so dirty, killing her off. Anyway, on a lighter note, my chapters seem to have leveled out around the high four thousand word mark. And don't forget about Agatha, we will be hearing from her soon. Also, the one paragraph Joshua entry was to defend Joshua's reasons. He is a good person, Vanessa was just very intimidating.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Own nothing

A/N: I'm back! Sadly I actually ended up doing stuff on the vacation, however, and it'll probably only be this chapter. Enjoy! Oh, and I do try to slip in some things from Seth and Erika's view, please excuse that, had to be done, however horribly it was.

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**Seth's POV**

My heart sank as Ross entered the broken camp. That would be all of us. I knew that I was the only one really qualified to give this speech at the moment, but that did not ease my dread any. It had not been an easy speech to hear, and I didn't believe it would be an easy one to give. Ross walked up to the horse at his father's side and mounted. Everyone looked to Erika and I, silently expecting us to lead the way. This was the quietest I had ever heard the group.

Okay, here goes. I wish I were only better at speeches. "Before we leave, there is something to be said. We have suffered our first loss to this unit. I am aware that some of us were close to her, that this unit is like a family, but war doesn't care. I guarantee that along the way we will lose many more. It is a sad, irrefutable part of war. Knowing this, and now having seen it, anyone may now leave this unit." I stared at them for a moment, as if waiting for someone to turn and leave, but I knew none would. They had all lost some to the war, they knew the risks.

"Let's go." I said, turning to Erika.

**Agatha's POV**

I watched as the Princess' unit galloped away, heading right in the direction I had hoped.

"Ha. They're heading straight to Riev, just as we planned." I spoke softly, stroking the tip of my sweets finger, who now rode in a pouch attached to a string around my neck. Back behind Serafew, in the woods, was a new army we had assembled. We would follow behind the group, closing in on them just as they ran into Riev. Then I would have revenge for my sweets…my children.

**Lute's POV**

I felt saddened, and more than a little scared at the death of Vanessa. I had joined this mission mostly because I had thought it would be more fun to improve my magic while doing something worthwhile, and with the aid of hindsight I will admit I had been far too rash. I was just grateful there was always Artur. He would always be by my side, and with his level of conviction, I knew he would keep me from harm if I were to slip up.

I turned to look at Artur. He was sitting astride his horse, his eyes closed. Probably meditating or having a philosophical moment, completely confident in the ability of his horse to follow the group. I smiled. Of all the things I had studied and mastered, the behaviour of men was not one of them. And monks had to be the strangest branch of men. But, in my estimate, they could be some of the best.

Suddenly I had a thought. What if Artur were to end up like Vanessa? He couldn't watch over me if that were to happen. At that moment I made a vow to myself that I would not let that happen, I would watch over him as much as he did me.

During some point in my musings Artur had opened his eyes. "Lute, you're staring." He said, his voice full of laughter.

"Just musing on how strange men are. Especially monks. Falling asleep on your horse, seems a useful talent, I suppose." I answered, deciding to leave out the second part of my thoughts, in case he somehow twisted those as well.

"I somehow doubt that. It's clearly due to how charming you find monks." He jested.

"No, maybe because they're bizarre, but only that."

"Sure that's what you say." He replied, obviously intent on keeping the banter alive.

I decided not to grace him with another denial, he would only keep pushing. And here I had thought this was where monks were different than most men.

"Here, we should probably set camp." Seth called from the front.

Suddenly, ahead of me, just about where Seth and Erika were, I felt a large shift of balance, dark magic was being operated. Seth and Erika's horses jumped back as a robed figure suddenly appeared in front of them. Also feeling the employment of dark magic, Artur rushed to the front of the group. I followed close behind.

"Princess Erika of Renais!" I heard the robed figure exclaim. "Accept your fate, you've nowhere to flee!"

"Wh-what? Who are you, and where did you come from?" Princess Erika asked, clearly disturbed by the man appearing from nowhere.

"You're as beautiful as I'd heard, and you're even wearing your bracelet."

"My bracelet? Why would you care about my bracelet?" Erika questioned.

"It matters not. I follow the emperor's orders." He answered, "Now, tell me, you came all this way to aid Ephraim, am I correct? A fool's errand. Ephraim fell before the emperor's might. As we speak he wastes away in a cell in Renvall, meekly awaiting his execution."

Erika looked stunned. "Renvall?" she whispered.

"Yes. Now comes the fun part of the game." The man laughed out. "Come, child." A child stepped out from behind him. "You see, there have been some large spiders spotted in this region, bael, I think they may be called. Perhaps they would like a nice hot meal, hm? The game is simple, you rush in and attempt to rescue the children, we kill you, I get the bracelet."

Beside me I felt the air fill with energy. I knew Artur loved children dearly. I readied my own magic, in case a duel broke out. The man let out a little chuckle, then began to open the void between his two destinations.

"You monster!" Artur yelled out, simultaneously sending a wave of energy at the man, in a line above the child's head. The shaman had clearly felt Artur preparing his magic as well, and he created a void between him and the bolt. He had underestimated Artur's magic, however, and some made it through, though only enough to give a deep cut on the man's cheek. Still laughing, the shaman jumped into the void, the child in tow.

A few seconds of stunned silence later, fog came racing from the direction we had just come. There was obviously more than one magic user about.

"Lute, c'mon! He must be this way!" Artur shouted, dismounting and running towards the origin of the fog. I wanted to tell him that it couldn't be the man with the child casting the fog, as that was a trick learned by users of anima magic, but he would have just argued the man could be a dabbler in two arts. And who knew, he could be right. So I followed, the two of us leaving the rest of the group behind.

**Erika's POV**

I was appalled at the idea of this man calling all this a game. I instantly went to follow Artur and Lute, as they would know best how to fin a magic user, but Seth stopped me.

"Erika, the fog is a ploy, it is only used by mages, that man was a shaman. And besides, I see an enemy there. He seems the type of man to hide behind others." He yelled, pointing northeast. There was indeed an enemy silhouette in that direction. "Erika, my instinct tells me the largest evil is in that direction. Come with me." He pleaded. I turned back to him. If his instincts said that way, then I would go.

I ran beside his horse as it cantered, telling myself to ask him to teach me how to fight from horseback after the battle. Franz pulled his own horse up beside Seth, and behind us Gilliam was moving as fast as I'd seen him go. I prayed Seth was right. If that girl died…

**Colm's POV**

I watched as most of the group split into two different directions. I groaned as I saw they were heading essentially nowhere. I scanned through the fog, the vague shapes completing themselves in my mind. The concentration of enemy units was definitely to the east, there we would find the shaman.

"C'mon, Neimi. He's this way." I said, jumping off the horse. She followed right behind me. Seeing revenants among the Grado soldiers, I called back. "Neimi, sticks to the human soldiers, your arrows don't affect the monsters."

Just behind us Ross and Garcia followed, having an argument all the while.

"I trust Seth's instincts. We should follow him!" Garcia shouted after Ross.

"The murderer went with them, and besides, Colm can see in this stuff." Was Ross's reply.

Neimi and I outdistanced them enough to ignore the argument. As we drew nearer the enemy soldiers, I was surprised to hear their shouts.

"What are they doing here?" One called out to the others.

"Novala never said anything about bringing revenants, did he?" Another called.

"And where did the fog come from?" The first continued.

They didn't know about the revenants? Or the fog? I did not view this as fortunate news. Suddenly there was a whirring noise, closely followed by another. One of the Grado cavaliers cried out, then fell from his horse.

"What was that?" The other one shouted. We hadn't even been spotted yet.

Suddenly, before Neimi could ready another shot, the silhouette of a revenant shot at the cavalier. I saw as the cavalier severed one of the undead's arms in a startled defense. The monster continued, undeterred, sinking its claws into the mans leg. He let out a terrible scream, dropping his sword and attempting to remove the revenants claws with his hands. It was clear the man would not make it, however, and Neimi gave him a quicker death.

The horse turned to see the revenant, and shot off in a panic, dragging it along as it was still clamped to the cavalier. Behind were two more.

"Neimi, stay back!" I shouted, readying my short sword. I rushed at the closest revenant and severing one of its outstretched arms. As I spun to keep the monsters in view, I saw Garcia run at it, chopping its head off. Ross was close behind, removing the revenants last arm.

All three of us were rather taken by the bizarre appearance of the headless, armless body. None of us noticed the second revenant, and Neimi's shout came just a little late. "Ross!"

The revenants claws raked down his back, tearing long, deep gashes. Ross fell to the ground, hard.

"No, Ross!" Garcia yelled out, tackling the revenant before it could fall on Ross and finish the job. The two rolled for a yard or two, then broke apart. Garcia was on his feet in an instant, sporting only a few shallow scratches down one arm.

Suddenly something whistled past my ear, and I swear I felt something clip it.

"Colm! Watch the battle!" Neimi chastised me. I turned to see a downed axeman behind me. Curse it all, if Neimi was paying more attention to the battle I was in trouble.

I turned back to see Garcia had practically finished the revenant, and Moulder was kneeling beside Ross, both were surrounded in a cool blue light. Behind Moulder, Neimi was drawing another arrow. I walked up to the two, quickly joined by Garcia.

"Ross? Is he okay?" Garcia asked, sounding panicked. He kneeled next to Moulder.

"I'm fine, dad, it's nothing." Ross said, sitting up.

"The wound was truly insignificant. It healed perfectly." Moulder said, standing up.

"Then let's move, the shaman can't be too far." I instructed. Indeed, after a few steps I saw his silhouette, along with three others.

**Erika's POV**

I was completely unnerved by the fact that the first three enemies were revenants. It seemed almost as if they had been placed where they were on purpose, and were working in concert with the shaman. If this were true, our mission had suddenly become harder.

On a good note, Joshua and Natasha had also followed us, and Joshua was proving to be a fair swordsman, taking one of the monsters by himself. Another was dispatched by Gilliam and Franz, Gilliam holding it in place, skewered by his spear, while Franz hacked away at it. I aided Seth, though minimally, with the last one, the rapier style swords were not quite fit to properly cut through them.

From there we continued on, fighting our way through a growing number of revenants, though they were all fairly weak. I wondered if the man at the end of this wanted to meet us in battle.

"Erika, we're close, I can feel it." Seth called over after reducing the last revenant in our sight to useless chunks of meat.

Suddenly the fog around us disappeared, revealing a very weathered old man clad in the robes of a bishop.

"He he he. Princess Erika." The man cackled. "I'm so glad you have come to me."

Sure the man freaked me out, but at the moment he didn't look particularly dangerous, and he was a holy man.

"Sir, there are children, they need-"

"Erika" Seth interrupted. "He's the evil, you can't trust him."

"Ah. Novala's playing one of his little games again. The fool. He's going to get himself killed one day. Maybe today, I see some of your group is absent.

He knew of our group? Maybe Seth was right. I felt Joshua walk up next to me, then half a step in front, he was now the closest to the man. "Who are you?" I asked.

The man seemed to ponder the question. "I need not concern you with that now. In fact, we should be bringing our meeting to a close. The King is not patient. It was nice meeting you, Erika of Renais, goodbye."

His sudden farewell threw me off balance mentally, and the sudden yellow orange bolt flying towards me did nothing to help. I cringed back. "Erika!" I heard Seth yell. I opened my eyes to see that he had jumped from his horse and in front of the bolt. A split second later it made contact, blowing Seth back into me and sending us both into a roll across the ground. At the end of the roll I was pinned down by the dead weight of Seth. I prayed he was only unconscious.

Joshua quickly closed the distance between himself and the man, swinging his sword for the throat. Even more quickly, however, the man produced a staff, striking Joshua's hand and knocking his blade off course, then swinging it back around to land a blow on the back of Joshua's neck, sending him sprawling.

Then Franz came, leaping his horse above us. He had been staying behind with Gilliam, and had finally caught up. He was obviously looking to land a blow while the man's back was turned.

The bishop seemed to sense Franz coming long before we could have expected, however, and whipped around, sending out a long horizontal stripe of energy. I gasped as it made contact just below Franz's throat just as his horse landed. The boy's severed head spun through the air, flashing crimson, and landing beside me, a look of rage still etched upon his young face.

I felt like I was going to puke, and quickly looked around it to see who would fall to the priest next. Joshua was back on his feet, looking more warily at the bishop's back. I wondered for a moment why he was waiting, then saw the javelin flying at the bishop. Gilliam had joined the battle.

The old man swung his staff up to parry the javelin, and at the same instant Joshua swung his sword, holding it out particularly far. Somehow the old man kept his tempo above that of Joshua, and he expertly spun the staff around to strike away the tip of Joshua's sword.

Then I saw what Joshua had been planning, holding his sword out so wide. As the staff whipped the sword back the other way, Joshua used the force used the force to initiate a spin, holding out one foot. His kick struck the bishop's side with rib-cracking force, knocking the man to the ground.

Bringing his sword back around, he spun, bringing the sword down above his head. The bishop held his arms out above him, catching the sword on one forearm and receiving a horrible gash that would have completely made it through his arm if he had not been preparing his spell. A small fraction of a second after Joshua's sword made contact he was blown backwards by a large, though crudely constructed, force.

The old man looked up to realize Joshua was not very hurt, and Gilliam was approaching. With broken ribs he would lose. Cackling, he bid farewell. "Farewell, princess Erika. I can't wait until we next meet. Two less to fight." And suddenly he opened one of the portals allowing him to leave. He was gone before Joshua or Gilliam could come close.

**Lute's POV**

Artur was running a few steps ahead of me, destroying every revenant he came across without thought or a second glance. I was both touched by his ability to care and aggravated by his power of observation. Why did he not see that, although we were supposedly fighting Grado at the moment, it was revenants he was blasting away. Was this to mean Grado was somehow allied with the undead?

Just as the power of the fog ceased I caught up to Artur. In just a few second the fog would reveal the caster. I saw a robed silhouette walking towards us.

"You killed my sweets." It was an old woman, judging by the voice. She was thrown into relief as a sudden wind came through, blowing away the fog. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar. "You killed my sweets and now you must pay. They did nothing to you, and you killed them." She was slowly walking towards us, furiously stroking something hanging out of her necklace.

"Agatha?" Artur asked, recognizing the voice as well. I was quite surprised he had named her before I had, however.

"Lute, you were so perfect, I am sorry this young man has tainted you. But revenge must be taken. Goodbye."

"What?" I asked before I felt a sudden up swell of power from her. She was preparing to attack us. Before I really knew what was happening she had sent two bolts of energy at us. A split second later she also had a fireball sent towards Artur, just under the light magic.

Artur jumped out of the way of both the energies directed at him, and in front of the one headed towards me, absorbing its energy and grounding it. A second later my mind kicked in, and I seized control of the forces of the fireball Agatha had abandoned, swinging it back around at her. Artur had also sent his own beam of energy at Agatha, sparking a random thought: light magic was not very creative.

Agatha locked wills with me for control of the fireball, shattering my control after only moments. At the same time she absorbed the energy from Artur, redirecting it at me. She sent the fireball flying at Artur.

Artur brought a shield up, largely stopping the momentum of the fire, and sustaining only small burns along his arm. I mentally slapped myself, remembering my vow; I was supposed to protect him from anima magic especially. I stepped to the side, avoiding the beam of energy she had sent towards me.

"Ha ha ha, you two have knowledge." She cackled. Suddenly, with an upward gesture from Agatha, roots rose from the ground, wrapping themselves around my ankles. I quickly searched my mind for the energies of plants, not quite familiar with them. Then she shot out the largest bolt of light energy I had seen yet, nearly blinding me with the light. Seeing that I was trapped, Artur jumped in front of me. He began to absorb the energy, channeling it into the ground as fast as he could. She just continued to feed the bolt, the plants around her beginning to die. She had run out of the earth's natural energy in the place already, there was no way Artur could withstand that much longer.

"Artur, leave. She's too powerful, we can't beat her." I pleaded, knowing if he continued he would be cooked alive.

"No!" Artur shouted, redoubling his efforts. Instead of grounding the energy, he redirected it back at her. His last mistake, the effort caused him to slip in his ability to block himself from the rest of the energy, he was burnt alive.

I would have suffered the same fate, if not for the last distracting bolt, Artur's last. Agatha simply dodged over to the side, evading the bolt completely. Artur's body collapsed to the ground, the soft plumping sound bringing me out of my shock. In its place was a burning fury. She had killed Artur, she had made me break my vow.

Without knowing how I had done it, the roots were suddenly loose. I stepped forward, summoning up my fury, never before having felt such an exhilarating experience. This was better than the day I had first performed my magic. Agatha laughed, sending another fireball at me, though she took a step back.

I allowed the fireball to close in on me, slapping it aside at the last second. The futile gesture only angered me more; suddenly I felt the earth calling to me. Earth magic was one of the most complicated, powerful forms of anima magic. It took the most accomplished sages complicated incantations and hand gestures to accomplish the simplest tasks of moving earth. But I was a prodigy, and the earth was calling.

With a simple upward motion of my hands I erected two rock pillars. Another sweeping motion, and they flew at Agatha. Somehow knowing those two would be blocked, I summoned another mass of stone, sending it right down the middle.

Agatha held her hands out, at the two pillars, seeming to physically shatter them, though I knew she had used her magic. Still, it looked to be a bone-jarring experience. The last one hit her square on, before she had any chance of shielding herself. She was knocked flat, and I heard the crunch of many bones. The boulder continued on its course, leaving a quivering mass of old flesh and crunched bone behind. She was still alive. I walked up to her, intent on fulfilling revenge for Artur.

**Neimi's POV**

We all followed as Colm led the way to the shaman. I could barely believe that between Seth's instinct and the magical knowledge of Artur and Lute, Colm had been the one to go the right way. But then again, I could, he may be rude about it at times, but he was usually right. I trusted him more than anyone, and this only served to prove my trust was well placed.

"Neimi, take the cavalier" Colm instructed, pointing to a shape I could barely see. Raising my bow, I aimed at the bulk of the shadow. I released, and quickly knocked another arrow. The cavalier backed into the fog, though, and I had no target to shoot. Then a cry went up, they knew we were here.

Hearing the cry, the two axemen of our group let out their own, no longer worried about giving up position, and rushed to where the figures were. Apparently being injured already in this battle did little to deter Ross. Colm and I quickly followed, Colm shaking his head in disbelief at the men's antics.

We caught up to find that one mage was already done, having been taken by surprise, having two axemen rush him, and another axeman quickly fell to the father son duo. Seeing the cavalier off to the side, pulling an arrow out of his arm, Colm ran over and quickly finished him before he had the chance to defend. Now the shaman was our sole enemy.

I loosed my current arrow at him, scoring a hit on his arm, and distracting him from the spell he had been casting towards Garcia. It was clear he would fall easy to the four of us. Garcia rushed up as the shaman was holding his arm, and sliced his axe into the shaman's side.

"Don't kill him quite yet!" Colm exclaimed. He hurried over to the fallen shaman. "Where are the children." Colm asked. I wanted to take a step back, I had never before heard Colm sound so dangerous.

"I'm a dead man either way. You really think I would tell you? At least I may relish this one last bit of victory." The shaman groaned back, attempting to laugh. Suddenly screams issued from the forest to the south.

"We'll see who has total victory." Colm said, shoving his sword into the man's throat, then turning to the forest. "If we hurry, we may be able to save them."

"Then let's go!" Ross exclaimed, running off in the direction of the screams. The four of us followed close behind. It was only through a short plot of woods before we ran into the clearing, just in time to see to giant spiders bearing down upon three unarmed people. One was only feet away from one of the children.

"Yah!" Ross yelled, charging at the spider and choping off one of its forelegs in one swipe of his axe, causing it to lose balance and trip, allowing the child time to run back. Moulder quickly ran to attend the children. As Garcia went to aid his son in the chopping of the large spider, the two working almost seamlessly as the destroyed the monster, I loosed an arrow into the eye area of the other spider, not knowing how many eyes it actually hit. Colm took advantage of the monster's sudden pain, and hacked away one of its legs in two swings, then cutting a large incision down the thing's body.

Crippled before they had even been aware that the small creatures before them were dangerous, the spiders were finished quickly. I looked over to Colm, covered in spider fluids, and saw his smile as he watched Moulder console the children. There was nothing more beautiful than the satisfaction in that smile.

**Riev's POV (omg, I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Eww?)**

I arrived where Agatha had been supposed to be waiting, should they attempt to double track for their escape. Believing that they had not, however, the scene before me was rather surprising, and amusing. The group's young monk lay dead, and only feet away the little mage was standing above Agatha, clearly the victorious duelist. I chuckled to myself, defeated by a mere mage.

I walked silently behind the two, quickly severing the head of the mage, who had had no chance to sense it coming, and had obviously been too distracted to notice anyhow.

"Why, Agatha, look at you, almost as beautiful as the day we met." I said, looking down at her. It was true; she had always been one ugly hag, though a powerful ugly hag. Yes, she had been quite useful. Not anymore, however.

"R-R-Riev. You saved me." She said softly, clearly unable to muster any breath. Her face contorted into a horribly ugly smile.

"No, not quite. You see, I really don't feel like wasting any energy to heal you. You have just about used up your usefulness. I'm afraid I'll have to leave you here like this." I said, enjoying the look of terror that crept upon her face.

"R-Riev?" She asked.

"Farewell, Agatha. It seems death shall not bring us together after all." I said, before turning to leave. As I stepped into the void, I heard one choke filled sob.

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A/N: Sorry it took so long, vacation kinda took it out of me, I'm not one for long trips, I can only sleep, so writing never really happened. Thanks to my constant reviewers: Sorenfangirl104, Black Lotus Flower, 73ayay, and LoneWolf69. Also a thanks to Yami01, who favourited it, even if they didn't review…

I feel horribly dirty from this chapter. So many killings, and one from Riev's POV. Also makes me feel kind of sorry for Agatha. Maybe the next one will be lighter, considering two of the deaths in this were moved up (try to guess which two, unless you're LoneWolf69, cheater.) Anyways, hope it was somewhat enjoyable.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: still own nothing

A/N: okay, after many, many rewrites I finally found that chapter seven needed to be split into two parts. So this one is a little short, but there should be less of a wait for the next one. Thanks to the reviewers, as always. There would be no fanfiction without reviewers.

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**Erika POV**

Seeing that the bishop was not going to return to finish us off, Gilliam hobbled over, relieving the crushing weight of Seth's body. I quickly got up, intending to see if Seth was okay, but Natasha quickly cut in front of me.

"This man's still alive, but the magic melted the metal of his armor, it has fused with his skin. If we are to save him, I will need help, cutting off the armor." She instructed. "Gilliam, help me to remove that which is not grafted to him."

Joshua stepped forward, seeing my look of horror at her instructions, offering to be the one to help remove the armor. Gilliam was currently removing Seth's shoulder guards and whatever else had escaped the magic, being the only one strong enough to handle him with the least chance of dropping him to harm him further.

"Okay, that should do, Gilliam. Joshua-"

"Yes."

"I want you to cut the skin just under the metal, I will attempt to heal it as you go along, to prevent too much blood loss. I am aware your sword arm is steady, but I implore you to make these the smoothest cuts you can, healing magic cannot always save everything, and it will be especially taxing to grow back-"

"Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Joshua interrupted, removing a knife from his belt. I was glad to see it looked clean, not used in battle. Joshua kneeled next to Natasha, and despite telling myself I shouldn't, couldn't see this done, I leaned forward to watch Joshua's first incision.

I was glad to see Joshua held the knife steady, looking almost as if he had done this several times before. Slowly, as he began to pull back the armor infused skin, to allow Natasha to heal below, blood began to dribble down Seth's torso. The bout of Nausea that struck me was surprisingly strong, considering how many I had killed with my own sword. I suppose it was the fact this was Seth that was bleeding, I had always seen him as being something above human, and now the same doubts that plagued me at the death of my father were once again bearing down on me.

Suddenly Natasha's staff glowed blue, and she directed the light at the wound, sealing the skin just behind Joshua's knife. Upon the magic touching his flesh, Seth woke with a gasp.

"Erika, talk to him, we don't want him to go in shock during this." Natasha directed.

I graciously accepted the excuse to avert my eyes from the painful looking procedure. I quickly rushed to Seth's other side, kneeling down and grabbing his hand.

"Erika… You're safe." He said softly, relieved. His relief touched me more than I would have expected, and I suddenly realized how lost I would be if I were to lose him. I took a calming breath, before remembering I was supposed to comfort him.

"And so are you. We made it through another battle. Just lie still a moment, your armor is stuck to your skin, Joshua and Natasha are taking care of it." I responded, giving his hand a small squeeze. He returned it, though much harder, clenching his teeth, and letting out a hiss of pain.

"Sorry." Joshua apologized. I didn't particularly like how neutral he sounded when he said it.

"Erika, the children?" Seth asked. I sighed.

"I suppose we just have to have faith in Lute and Artur. Do you have any clue who that man was, Seth, you are familiar with Grado's higher ranked, no?"

"No, I can't say I do, I don't recall any holy men being part of Grado's higher military." He slowly said, attempting to keep his breathing slow and regular, to prevent throwing off Joshua's strokes.

"How can you call that man holy, after what he did?" I asked, still thrown off by the fact that such an evil man could be a user of light magic.

"Light magic is worked by a strong inner conviction, I would have remembered someone like that." Seth replied.

"Done" Joshua said cheerfully, holding up the gory piece of armor "Not sure if you want to keep this though." He said, throwing it off to the side.

I looked to Seth's chest, allowing a slight gasp as I gazed at the tangled mass of scar all along his torso.

"Sorry, I did the best I could do." Natasha said, hearing the gasp.

"It's fine. Excellent. I'm very grateful for your work, Natasha." Seth consoled, sitting up. "C'mon, this battles not over. What if Lute and Artur are still fighting? Where's Franz?"

"Um. Seth" I started. He turned, to see the decapitated corpse. Gilliam had moved the head over by the body. He wore the same expression now on Seth's face., a stony acceptance.

"Oh." His eyes got a little teary, but his voice never shook, "we'll bury him after this is done. C'mon, this way." He walked back and mounted his horse, which had wandered only a short distance.

As we followed Seth in the direction the magic users had taken, I noticed no more fog was issuing from that direction. It appeared they, at least, had succeeded. This was my belief, anyway, before we came across the two bodies. I looked around at the evidence of the battle that had gone on, the giant hole in the ground, the large boulder far off that must belong to it. It felt strange as I teared up, but never actually cried. I knew from this point onward it would be much harder for me to cry, battle was a harsh teacher, but it taught well.

**Ross POV**

I watched as the small girl sat astride Titania, who was currently tied to a tree grazing, oblivious of the young girl. I allowed myself a small smile, knowing that Vanessa would absolutely have loved to take the girl for a ride, and maybe teach her something of caring for Pegasi. The girl's older sister and father were talking to Seth and Erika. Or so I had thought, the older sister was coming now.

"Wow, she's beautiful." The girl said, spying Titania. "I didn't know you rode Pegasi, usually one wields lances when they ride, and they take them to battle." She said to me.

She was smiling wide as she looked at me, stopping a few steps away and taking up a confident pose, surprising for one who had gone through as much as she had today. I noticed she was fairly pretty, though that came more from her demeanor than pure physical looks.

"You seem to be very knowledgeable about Pegasi," I said, walking up to her. "I'm Ross." I stuck out my hand.

"Alicia. My uncle's a knight for Frelia, he taught me a little in his visits." She returned, gripping my hand hard, at least for her size. "Oh, and thank you. For rescuing us, that is." She said, seeming to have just remembered this.

"No problem-," I started, but interrupted by Alicia.

"Guinevre! Don't do that!"

I whipped around, expecting the little girl to be untying Titania or something of the like (though I doubt it would made much of a difference. It had taken much to get Titania from Vanessa's grave, and she hadn't left the ground since the death. Quite frankly I was surprised she ate or drank, she seemed so heartbroken.) but instead she was simply kicking Titania's sides, obviously trying to make her go. Alicia rushed towards Guinevre, clearly intent on removing her from the Pegasus, but I grabbed her arm.

"Hey, hey, it's fine. I doubt Titania even notices. Let her have her fun, I'll bet Titania is glad to have someone on her again." I laughed.

Alicia stopped, giving me a grateful smile, then frowned, catching on to what I had said. "Again?" she asked.

I felt a twinge of pain, now I would have to talk about Vanessa. "Yeah, I'm not her rider. She, she was partnered with a girl named Vanessa." It was hard to tell her name to a stranger, one who didn't understand just who Vanessa was.

"Oh, I just assumed. You seem so attached. Was Vanessa-," she left the end hanging, not wanting to say what was next, in case it hurt me. I could tell what she was thinking.

"No, nothing like that. She was more of a mother figure."

"I'm, I'm sorry to hear that. She must have been a good one, seeing how you treat, Titania was it?"

"Alicia! Come pet the pretty pony!" Guinevre called over. Alicia looked to me.

"C'mon, Pegasi need attention as much as anyone else." I encouraged, leading her over to Titania.

"Hey girl." Alicia said. Titania lifted her head, looking Alicia in the eyes. Alicia froze in the gaze. Suddenly Titania bowed her head.

"R-Ross." She stuttered.

"Wow, never seen her do that before." I replied, confused as to why Alicia had suddenly become so nervous. It wasn't like Titania had attacked or anything.

"My uncle said you would know, undoubtedly when it happened, if it happened." She whispered to herself.

"What are you talking about?"

"Titania, I am honored to have been chosen." Alicia said, bowing to the Pegasus.

"What are they doing?" Guinevre asked, having noticed both Alicia and Titania bowing.

"I have no clue." I answered the young girl, equally confused.

"She just chose me, as her rider." Alicia answered. "I'm to be a Pegasus knight."

"Chose you?" I asked.

"We get to keep the pony!?" Guinevre exclaimed.

"That is how a Pegasus knight is chosen, you cannot just decide to become one, you must have a Pegasus as a partner, and there are very few humans each one would chose. That is why my uncle is among a minority in the Frelian army, Pegasi prefer to partner with women." She explained.

"So, you mean Titania is ready, ready to fight again? That's great! Are you going to join us?" I was happy to see that Titania was going to pull out of this okay, she had worried me lately.

"Titania's ready, but I'm not. It would beat least a year before I would be good enough to join mercenary's, and besides that, I would never be able to convince father."

"What about 'father'?" A man asked, walking up to us, followed by Seth and Erika.

"Daddy, Alicia got suscepted by the pony." Guinevre called out excitedly, catching on to how exciting the idea was, even if she didn't understand.

"Is this true, Alicia? Where did this Pegasus even come from?"

"She was with one of the members of our army." I provided.

"Your uncle will be proud, he feared he would be the only knight in the family." The man said, looking overjoyed himself.

"Ross, you should go get ready to leave, we must go rescue my brother, we have no time to rest." Erika said to me, clearly aggravated at the slowness of our group. I guessed that visiting with the family was now out of the question.

"Just let me say goodbye, then, to Titania." I said, hurrying over to the Pegasus that Guinevre had finally dismounted, to allow Alicia to sit astride her. I had to admit, Alicia fit well with Titania.

"Bye, girl. I hope we see each other again, perhaps after the war." I said, stroking Titania's neck. She rubbed her head against me, an affection I had only ever seen her give Vanessa. "Take good care of each other." I addressed Alicia.

"We will, bye, Ross." Alicia returned, smiling and hopping off Titania. She gave me a quick hug, before going to untie Titania. I turned and followed the leaders back into the camp, wondering if we would ever get a break, now that Erika had gotten whiff of Ephraim.

"Thanks for everything." Alicia's father called as he walked away, carrying Guinevre and walking beside Titania, who took instruction from Alicia well.

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A/N: Ah, finally a more lighthearted chapter. Don't worry though, the war is still going on, it can't be this way forever. Hope it was a nice respite, however.


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